This invention relates to articulated snowplows, and to means for attaching snowplows to motor vehicles.
Plows with blades which articulate or hinge have a number of advantages over plows with straight, nonpivotal blades. In deep snow, a lightweight vehicle carrying a plow, such as a jeep or pickup truck, often cannot push snow with a straight blade. The wheels of the vehicle will spin when the resistance of the deep snow is encountered. With a hinged blade, however, in a forwardly extending V configuration, the same deep snow can be pushed to either side of a lightweight vehicle, and the vehicle will not get stuck.
A straight bladed plow also makes it virtually impossible to push an entire pile of snow to an out-of-the-way location since the snow will spill out either side of the plow. However, a hinge plow can be articulated to a rearwardly extending V position such that a pile of snow can be cupped between the two blade portions and pushed without significant spillage.
A problem encountered with many prior art hinged plows, however, is that the hinge cannot withstand the severe stresses which occur when objects such as curbs, rocks and the like buried beneath the snow are struck. In many prior art designs, the hinge bends or fails after repeated strikes, making it difficult or impossible to articulate the blades. Another problem is with the complicated mechanical design used in many hinge plows. Such complexity leads to costly repairs.